Independent galactic trader Ven Zaran has had a troubled past, but he thought it was behind him. He has a family and a successful career, but when he helps out a former crew member against a crime syndicate, it draws him into a spiral of self-destruction. His family is kidnapped and he is forced to work for the gangsters who have them. Unable to free them himself, and unaware that everyone around him is working to do just that, he caves to the temptation of an old drug addiction. As he str...

This collection features 10 stories from Scott Seldon's Galactic Confederation Universe. Smuggler Tramp Darvon makes a run through a dangerous stellar nursery. Smuggler Hazdon Brenker is tricked into doing a job by a girl out for revenge. Customs Marine Sgt. Rolfel is tested to see if he has what it takes to be promoted to commander and then he and his best friend take a leisure cruise that turns out to be more business than pleasure. Trader Alluren Beldaras makes a normal delivery, but en...

Independent galactic trader Ven Zaran steps in to help a fellow trader, taking over his contract in a region rife with pirate activity. His certainty that he can avoid the pirates evaporates when he finds out the fine print in the contract. He begins to lose cargo after cargo and each attempt to avoid the pirates and follow the contract only draws more attention from the pirates. Trying to keep his income up, he takes some side jobs, but when the pirates capture one of those, Ven puts all ...

Intergalactic trader, Ven Zaran, contracts to deliver an easy cargo to a non-confederation world. He is warned of the dangers this destination poses, but he can't forsee that it could be something he can't handle. While he is deliering the cargo his crew run afoul of a local regulation and his ship is seized and half his crew arrested. When Ven finally uncovers the extent of corruption in the planetary government, he realizes that he must resort to extreme measures if he wants to free his ...

Independent galactic trader Ven Zaran is wanted for piracy. Trouble is he was no where near the system where the attack occurred, yet the evidence against him implicates him specifically. The authorities seem to be convinced of his guilt and have set one of their best inspectors on the case. Ven chooses to go on the run to find the evidence that will clear his name. He has to use every trick he knows to stay ahead of the inspector. Only adding to his troubles is a ghost from his past who m...

Seriala's poor performance on one job has put her career as a starship pilot in jeopardy. With no other options, she has to take the only job available. Her new boss turns out to be Crazy Mags and at first she can't see how it can work, but Mags is on a similar mission. Seriala must help Mags recover the logs and data records from a derelict starship so Mags can redeem her long tarnished name and Seriala can get her career back on track. Things aren't so simple when a salvage operation get...

Independent galactic trader Ven Zaran's life and career threaten to collapse around him when his wife and daughter are killed in a tragic accident. In frustration and grief, he turns to drugs and a takes on a string of dangerous smuggling jobs. He drops his ship off for a major upgrade and goes on a journey of self-discovery. His path crosses that of a grieving young woman, now in search of her father. He takes on the challenge intending to help her, but the search takes unexpected turns a...

A discosurf champion living on the planet of Marinopolis discovers one day that his sister has been kidnapped. Assisted by his faithful android, Jenkins, he investigates. Little does he know that his enquiry will lead him to the depths of the Great Ocean, to places where mysterious intelligent living forms, the Azal’nams, are evolving.

Hank Beveridge and Lieutenant Newton Shapiro are a couple of nice guys whose worlds just happen to collide. Hank's getting up in years and Newton has his first independent field command. On Third World, women of marrying age are scarce as hen's teeth. Hank's still looking though. Newton has a job to do, no matter who gets hurt. The Empire is a long ways away, but the locals are at least peaceable.

Clairissa Maggio, archaeological log. 3983, New Galen Ruins.The Arcturian O'Neal station is a testament to that culture's space engineering. Fifty kilometers long, the station had apparently been the largest settlement in system, and directed high energy farming from a solar panel array. The array, of some note in archaeological architectural circles for some time, remains still, in various conditions, a matrix of panels encompassing a full inner orbit of the star, its Herculean sca...

In the Sunset Desert of Alpha Centauri A Four are three immense structures. For nearly thirty years, these massive mines have used United States of the Zodiac prisoners to dig uraninite out of the ground by hand. No-one escapes from Alpha Four. Once you are sent there, established wisdom considers you as good as dead.It's time for Ant and Cleo to prove established wisdom wrong...

Imagine for a moment that legend and fact are two living and breathing entities. In legends, Atlantis was destroyed by a great flood due to greed. For a civilization to be gluttonous, they have to be imperialistic. A great war would have taken place to destroy such a powerful civilization. In fact, mankind has learned of civilizations older than the Egyptians and Sumerians. Within the last five decades, archeologists have learned about the Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, and the City of Lord Krish...